An Adventure in Romania
by storylover1BL
Summary: Charlie is kidnaped from his new job in Romania. He is trapped with some other people and must find a way to escape before he is drained of his magic or pays the ultimate price. Convincing them to escape is harder still as they made no attempt to leave, they are too tangled in the clever manipulation of the 'magic- snatches'. Can they get free in the end? Fairly cannon- compliant.


**Hi, this is my first fic. I am going to progress this into a mulit- chaptered mini- novel. Any reviews would be greatly appreciated as I'm trying to improve my writing technique. Thanks for reading :) Please excuse any minor mistakes, I have done my best to try and get rid of any and have had someone else read it through as well, but some may still remain.**

Overhead the sun shone on Charlie's back, he laboured steadily over the pile of dragon dung and the sweat trickled off his back in a stream. He'd long since abandoned his shirt as the morning had progressed and his muscles had begun to burn. It was hard, backbreaking work. Despite his good Hogwarts grades the Romanian Sanctuary insisted that he should earn his way up the ladder of authority, by natural toil and he had long since thanked his strong, broad Weasley build. So far the closest he had come to a real dragon was his study books, and the dung he was assigned to sort. Charlie had learnt a lot since he joined the sanctuary four months ago, fresh out of Hogwarts and as eager as a first year Hufflepuff.

Dropping his shovel on the ground he made his way to the bunk house where he could get a shower and some lunch. Charlie felt an uncomfortable tingling on the back of his neck and his stomach made an odd flip- flopping motion, he ignored it however as a feeling of anxiety that had becoming a more regular occurrence in the last few weeks. There was a sound like snapping twigs on his left suddenly. Charlie jumped visibly, and then spun around on his heel, his suspicion aroused.

"Who's there?" He called out loudly, forcing his voice to deepen and sound gruffer. There was no reply, silence prevailed for a second. The small hairs on his forearms were stood on end in which he hoped was a response to the sudden cold that had abruptly covered him. Next Charlie repeated his question in shaky Romanian that he'd been picking up in recent months from the Native workers on the sanctuary. Another indefinite pause followed and reminded Charlie that he was hovering on the edge of the snicket. With a slight shake of his head Charlie set off again, striding efficiently over the mussed grass. He was only another minute's walk away from the house when an abrupt fatigue fell over him. Again Charlie stopped in his tracks, in time to feel a hand grab his arm tightly and then the suffocating squeeze of apparition.

Upon Charlie's arrival at where-ever he was he leant over to catch his breath from the unexpected pressure when he felt a sharp needle break the skin on his shirtless side and he lost consciousness entirely.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A blinding headache tore Charlie from his slumber, that and a recollection of being kidnapped via apparition. He glanced around with unfocussed eyes at the unfamiliar scene. Someone came up to him, Charlie realised he was laid wonkily on a thin sponge mattress. The person knelt next to him and placed a worn plastic beaker in his hands. Charlie realised his mouth was dry and sore and his headache probably was from dehydration. His heart plummeted as he quickly searched through his pockets, and any other place on his body that had held his wand for it, to no avail.

"It's just water." A soft voice told him. Charlie raised the cup to his lips, clumsily dripping some of the icy liquid down his bare front. A hand steadied his cup for him and he took a cautious sip. The water was paradise of his throat and he took another enthusiastic gulp. The cup only seemed half full and it was soon empty. Once it was the person took it from him and to his surprise put their hand under his chin to raise his face so they could see it and began to clean his eyes delicately with a damp rag.

The person worked around his eyes to free them from whatever glue appeared to have made them so difficult to see through clearly and after a few minutes of gentle work the could begin to feel their movement ease. His head appeared to have been angled to look at his hands; they were the first thing he saw. In a flurry of footsteps he heard his aider leave before he could study or thank them.

Upon looking up Charlie found himself in a small plain room. It was without windows and had a single door which seemed be a main feature of the room, in spite of its peeling red paint. The walls were grimy and a matt grey shade, he assumed had once been white and there were several important looking things positioned next to the walls around the room. He realised there were several other people in the room with him. They were huddled almost apprehensively together. As well as that he and his mattress were on one side of the room, and the two or three people, and all the apparatus were on the other. It felt almost territorial.

Yet the person that had helped him hadn't seemed like that, they had not been hostile. They had been gentle. Charlie pulled himself up off the mattress and onto his feet. Instantly the huddled people stood also. He paused, unsure of how to make himself less intimidating to the people. He felt them watching him guardedly like they expected him to leap out and strangle them at any moment. Some form of communication passed between them and they began to walk towards him. As they grew slowly nearer he made out three people with his diminished eyesight. There were two young men and a young woman. They all looked different.

The group leader was a broad, stocky guy with very dark skin; he also appeared to be the eldest of the three. The other two were flanking him protectively, their faces pinched and defensive. He had a tall white skinned girl on his right and a long legged mixed-race boy on his left. They continued advancing towards him and Charlie became aware of how much older he was than them. He was just turned nineteen while their leader looked closer to seventeen, despite the tough scowl on his face. They were probably more scared of him then he was of them.

"Ar mu sum pajimi?" The eldest called fiercely. The words had the coppery tang of Romanian that he'd been learning, but he didn't understand what they meant. Charlie gave them a blank look.

"Are you friendly?" The girl translated, laying a long hand on the leader's arm and watching Charlie with her wide brown eyes.

"I am. Who are you?" Charlie replied easily. The girl turned to the two men and muttered to them. They conferred for a second and she turned back to him.

"I am Sophia, this is Eris and Vlad." Sophia told him, her long golden brown hair falling over her face as she gave him a warm smile.

"Ar mor pon ashi." The leader spoke again in his low voice and Sophia seemed to understand.

"Who are you? Where are you from? What do you want?" She questioned, her voice returning to its harsher key.

"I am Charlie Weasly; I'm studying and working at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary: and I think I've been kidnapped." Charlie told them placidly. The group nodded and the paler skinned lad with floppy auburn hair, that hadn't said anything before, muttered something in Sophia's ear. She gave him a nod.

"I am British, Eris and Vlad are Romanian. They belong to the small tribe on its west side which doesn't speak standard Romanian. Do you know why you've been kidnapped?" She returned carefully.

Charlie shook his head. "No idea." He admitted.

The group deflated slightly at that and Eris seemed to let down his guard, leaning against Vlad to take the weight off one of his legs. Sophia seemed to make up her mind also.

"Drag your mattress over to ours and we'll explain. But as you can likely see we're a little injured." Her voice took on a slightly instructive tone, which Charlie obeyed out of respect as he pulled his mattress across the mucky floor to the small mattress camp in the opposite side of the tiny room. The trio had went over to their mattresses already and the Eris had pulled his trouser leg up to reveal a long slash which Sophia was sat next to a appeared to be tending. She was making casual conversation in semi- fluent Romanian dialect as well as wiping the blood off Eris' dark skin. Vlad was watching from his own mattress. He mumbled a warning to the other two as Charlie and his sponge mattress slowly advanced so as not to startle them the same way his textbooks advised you advance a scared or injured dragon. All three of them watched him approach avidly.

When Charlie was about half a metre away from them he dropped his mattress and sat on it, facing Eris and Sophia. Sophia allowed a short silence to prevail before asking Vlad something in Romanian that sent him walking coolly to get one of the boxes from along the wall. Sophia thanked him for getting her it or so Charlie guessed considering she had spoken in Romanian and then she took out a small bottle of medical alcohol, the type that cleans injuries. Eris hissed as she rubbed some on his leg and Vlad threw him a sympathetic look. Charlie watched this wordlessly and waited to be addressed.

"Eris and Vlad have been trapped here for eight months, I have been for six. I did not speak Romanian at all before we met so I've had to learn it from them without any shared language. Learning other languages wasn't permitted in their village." Sophia began slowly. "They want us healthy for as long as they can. The people that have us, they… they drain your magical powers from you. They provide everything we need to stay strong and then, they break your skin and take some of your powers. People have magical cores, they rebuild with time, exercise and sleep. Do you understand what I'm trying to explain? Essentially we are their sheep, you keep a sheep healthy and you can use it- trim its coat. Then when it's regrown you can do it again, and again."

Sophia drew a long deep breath looked at Charlie warily. "I get it." He told her miserably. "How do we get out? What happens next?" He continued.

"There is no way out. People have died, Charlie. They take us out at eight, eleven, three and five for exercise out in a small fenced paddock, fresh food is put in each day, as is water. We are allowed to go to the toilet on the way to one of the excursions. Take a look around. This is all we have. If we need something we can put in a 'demand' with one of the 'studies' and they tell whoever's in charge of this whole thing. Sometimes we get what we need- like some bandages to clean each other up after a draining, but other times we don't- like when we asked for some reading books. This isn't a holiday home! If you've hacked off one of the studies then they can mess around with you- like not let you go to the toilet for the day, or not give you any water. There are no rules, no regulations. If one of the studies wants to give you a good kicking because you've looked at him the wrong way then there's no-one to tell him off for it. The boss doesn't give a toss so long as he doesn't blunt out abilities." Sophia gave a shudder, her rant subsiding as quickly as it began.

Vlad had not understood most of her angry monologue, but guessed its origins. He put his hand on her shoulder and she turned around to him. Charlie didn't see what passed between them, but it resulted in them hugging quickly and embarrassedly before separating again. Charlie fished experimentally for a less distressing topic, despite the oddness of their situation.

"I haven't seen you around Hogwarts." He told her mildly, she shook her head.

"I never attended." She replied rather shortly.

"You went foreign school? Or are you muggle-born?" Charlie queried.

"Neither, I'm pureblood but I didn't go to any school. My Mum- couldn't cope with my leaving her to go to school, even a day school and my dad left when I was eight." She told him duly. Charlie guessed there was more to it than this and then tried to grasp the whole thing, a girl that never went to Hogwarts because her mother didn't want to be left. It seemed almost as odd as the fact that he had in fact been kidnapped. Sophia had turned away from him long ago and was wrapping a grizzled rag around Eris' leg.

"Ar cromella tem noug cheli baru." Sophia said to Vlad, he then got up and brought back a ratty navy shirt from one of the tubs lining the walls, Sophia gave him a nod of thanks and returned her gaze to Charlie.

"Exercise in ten minutes- the five o'clock run. Afterwards there's some food left in our supply. We normally save our scraps and have a small feast on Friday evening." Sophia told him almost cheerfully. "They drain on Fridays so we're normally extra hungry: just a warning. They'll probably separate me from you and the lads, and I'll not be up to making tea tonight. Usually they take mine first thing in the morning and I've time to recover before tea, but their cutting it a bit fine today." Sophia tried to make this seem cheerful too, but there was a dismal undertone to her words. A silence swept through the room as none of the men could think of anything to say, or chose not to. It occurred to Charlie that the other two lads probably had no idea of what she was saying, but knew it already.

"And you'll be able to teach us some more about the world and," she dropped her voice to a low whisper, "magic that they can't teach me," her voice came back to normal levels, "and world affairs that aren't six months old. It will be nice to be able to chat in my mother-tongue." She added and Charlie was reminded of his mother and her habit of picking out one good point and making sure everyone knew it. Suddenly he felt so alone. He was going to be drained of his power! Sophia's words came to mind. _People have died._ She'd said. He had to escape; there was no two ways about it. His parents and Uncles had fought in the First Wizarding War, and they had done what they had to do, or died trying. Charlie decided he was going to get free, and take Sophia, Vlad and Eris with him.

A long shudder ran through the room as the sound of a key turning in the lock rang out. The trio stood up, so he did as well. Charlie wasn't exactly tall, but he was broad and strong and Vlad was almost his height, Sophia also. A beefy faced man came into the room, his uniform black and blank as always. His eyes seemed dead as though he no longer thought for himself, Charlie realised this was in fact one of the 'studies' Sophia had mentioned. He no longer felt just alone, he felt scared too. But he knew he wanted to free himself, if it was the last thing he did.


End file.
